Whats the proper word, emotional or intellectual?
Last week I promised to help you pick words that fit your audience in ads or sales letters. In English, we find two or more ways to say almost anything. Take the word “lucky” as an example. Sisson’s Synonyms lists 18 words that mean the same thing. Some are emotional words, some are intellectual words. If you’re writing a letter of invitation to a slot tournament you’d use the emotional word “lucky.” But if you’re writing a sales letter for expensive collector plates, you’d use the intellectual word “fortunate.” Your slot tournament letter might use the word “pick,” but the letter to collectors would substitute “choose.” So in for these two audiences, the emotional word “hard” works for the slot list, but the intellectual word “difficult” is better for the collectors. Now here’s a little exercise. I’ll list five emotional words and you write down their intellectual brothers. Ready? Get, eat, sweat, small, rich. Go get ’em.
